It's in our hands: Wick Groats one game away from Caithness league title
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Wick Groats are one game away from reclaiming the county league crown after this week's top-of-the-table clash with Pentland United ended all square.
Groats will clinch the title next week if they win their last match of the season in Caithness AFA Division One, away to relegated Thurso Acks.
Tuesday's hard-fought 1-1 draw between the top two at the Upper Bignold leaves United, the defending champions, two points behind Groats going into the final round of fixtures.
The Stabbies must win at home to Wick Thistle and hope Groats slip up in Thurso.
It looked promising for United when they took an early lead in Tuesday's eagerly awaited encounter. They were awarded a penalty after six minutes for a handball offence and James Murray calmly placed the spot-kick low to the right of Kieran Macleod.
Groats got themselves level after 66 minutes when substitute Michael Steven delivered a corner from the right and John Budge headed it in.
A penalty appeal was waved aside in the closing stages after Steven Anderson went down in the box.
Wick Groats manager Kevin Anderson was "not too disappointed" with the draw, which came three days after they had secured a place in the Highland Amateur Cup final after beating Stromness Athletic in Castletown.
"If we win the last game it's ours," the manager said. "It's in our hands. Before tonight it was in both our hands. We'll take that.
"In the first half we just didn't show up. It was the poorest I've seen us in a while.
"We just weren't at it at all in the first half but at half-time we just needed to reset and go again. We knew that if we got playing the football we can we'd get chances, and we had more chances in the first three minutes of the second half than we'd had all game.
"We set out to win tonight. We've not won, but we're not too disappointed. We've taken it to the last game.
"If somebody had said at the start of the season you're going into the last game knowing that if you win it you win the league, I'd be quite happy."
It was the second week in a row Budge had headed in a vital goal against Pentland United, following his late winner in the David Allan Shield semi-final at Ham Park.
"John is good in the air, Michael is good at set-pieces, and that's what it came from," Anderson said.
"It was end to end in the last five or 10 minutes. They knew they had to win, so they were going for it. We didn't want to sit in too deep and invite too much pressure, so it was ding-dong for the last five or 10 minutes.
"I thought we were the better team in the second half. As poor as we were in the first half, they didn't really test our keeper much."
Looking ahead to Saturday's David Allan Shield final against High Ormlie Hotspur, Anderson said: "It'll be a tough game. They've put one on us, we've put a couple on them, so we'll see how it goes.
"It's a big week and a half, it'll be defining for our season, but that's what you want. If you've not got big games at the end of the season you're doing something wrong."
Results – Steven Cup final: Lybster 0, Swifts 3.
Highland Amateur Cup, semi-finals: Clach Reserves 0, Avoch 7; Stromness Athletic 0, Wick Groats 1.
Caithness AFA Division One: High Ormlie Hotspur 2, Staxigoe United 2; John O'Groats 2, Acks 1; Wick Groats 1, Pentland United 1. Division Two: Watten 2, Top Joe's 2.
Fixtures – Wednesday, August 9 – Division One: Castletown v Wick Thistle. Division Two: Keiss v Thurso Pentland; Lybster v Swifts (all 7pm).
Saturday, August 12 – Highland League Cup, preliminary round: Wick Academy v Nairn County (3pm).
David Allan Shield final – High Ormlie Hotspur v Wick Groats (Back Park, Castletown, 3pm).
Sunday, August 13 – SWF Highlands and Islands League: Caithness v Sutherland (Back Park, Castletown, 2pm).
Monday, August 14 – Division Two: Swifts v Keiss; Top Joe's v Thurso Pentland; Watten v Lybster v (all 6.45pm).
Tuesday, August 15 – Division One: Acks v Wick Groats; Castletown v High Ormlie Hotspur; Pentland United v Wick Thistle; Staxigoe United v John O'Groats (all 6.45pm).
